I have accepting PayPal turned off but now two clients have paid via PayPal and I'm being charged 3.5%. Has anyone else experienced this?

Welcome to the Community, Will.

Let me share some insights about Payments.

In QuickBooks Payments, there's a list of all rates per transaction. For further information, please open Payments & banking rates in QuickBooks Payments.

Let me route you to the best help with QuickBooks Payments. I recommend contacting our Merchant Service Center to help you look into it and explain to you why there's a 3.5% charge in your account.

• You can chat with our Customer Service Team.
• You can also contact support via chat using the Merchant Service Center.

Our live support is available M-F, 6 AM to 6 PM PT.

For easier management of your QuickBooks subscription, use this link to update your billing information: Manage Billing, Payment, and Subscription in QuickBooks Online.

If you have any additional concerns besides payments, please post them here in the community. Stay safe!

I have chatted with customer service and they were very little help. I explained that I know what rate they charge which is why I have set up my QuickBooks to NOT accept that as payment but two clients have still paid and I don’t know how that is when I have NEVER set up my QuickBooks to accept PayPal. THAT is my frustration. So until someone can explain why customers are able to use PayPal when I don’t accept it, I will remain frustrated.

I understand the importance of turning off PayPal, mwills. I'm here to help you out.

You may encounter such an issue if PayPal is accidentally turned on. Not to worry, we can modify the payment options to switch it off.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Gear icon and select Account and Settings.
2. In the Sales tab, click the pencil icon from the Invoice Payments section to edit.
3. Under the Payment options, uncheck the Accept Credit Cards and keep Accept ACH marked check.
4. Then, click Save and Done.

If the issue persists, I recommend contacting our Merchant Services Support Team again. Our phone support can do a screen-sharing session that allows you to share important information and elaborate further details that could determine why it keeps turning on.

To learn more about how online payment processing helps you track and receive your funds, please see these articles: 

• Use PayPal and Venmo with QuickBooks Online
• Accept Electronic Customer Payments for Online Invoices

Please keep us posted if you need additional assistance tracking and managing your invoices. It's always our priority to provide the solution to your concerns.

You, as well as everyone else who has tried to "help" with this issue have told me to turn off PayPal and how to.  So thank you for that, I suppose.  This is NOT the issue.  PayPal IS turned OFF.  Yet, somehow, Quickbooks is still allowing my clients to pay via PayPal.  Explain THAT.  Because this is quite literally costing me money. So I cannot afford the problem to "persist" and THEN contact Customer Service.  I tried that and thought we fixed the simple issue and yet, here we are AGAIN.  

This is not the service we want you to experience, Mwills. I understand the importance of knowing why you can still receive those payments. Let me route you to the right support that can provide more details about this.

I know that you've already contacted us. However, it's best to reach out to our Merchant Services Support Team again. This way, they can check your account in a secure environment to determine the root cause of this problem and help you address this promptly. You can follow the steps below to contact us:

1. Go to the Help menu and select the Search tab.
2. Then, click Contact Us.
3. Then, enter a brief description of your concern and select Continue.
4. Lastly, choose either Start a Chat or Get a Callback to start connecting with them.

Furthermore, you can check out this article to record payments to connect them to the invoices to balance your accounts: Record invoice payments in QuickBooks Online.

I appreciate your patience regarding this matter. Keep us posted if you need assistance and other concerns related to QuickBooks. We'll be here to help you out. 

@mwillselectric-g Cheers to your post.  I also have had the same thing recently happen to me.  In the past, I have only accepted ACH payments; however, somehow the PayPal option had been changed to on.  I did not change it.  It seemed to have happened when QBO mandated the new invoice layout - (which again is a pretty sorry situation when the customer cannot revise the invoice to match their business model).  I don't know why changes are made without a simple email to customers to let them know the changes.  Since the PayPal option was enabled without my knowledge, it has cost me money in merchant processing fees which I try to avoid at all costs.  

The same thing JUST happened to me. I spoke with Sydney through Quickbooks chat and they were less than helpful. They said that I could close the account, which was not the issue. They kept insisting that PayPal could only be turned on in merchant services, yet I don't have a PayPal linked to QB. After repeating my question a few times, Sydney didn't respond and disconnected the chat. Now I'm waiting an hour for someone to call me to see if I am able to get the answer I need. My thoughts are that my bank account that is connected to QB for reporting and receipt syncing is the one that PayPal links to. I guess all I can do is wait a day or two and see if the funds deposit to the account. This is really frustrating. Glad to see I'm not alone, but sad to say that customer service is severely lacking with Quickbooks and that too many customers are having the same issue. It seems like QB support doesn't understand enough about their own system to help us. What a shame!

I'm in the midst of dealing with this same issue. I was on chat with Sydney, who suggested the same thing. When I said that I did not activate PayPal, they insisted that I did through merchant accounts (which, I didn't even know how to get to). After repeating my question and expressing my frustration, Sydney disconnected the chat. I am now waiting for an hour for someone else to call me. I vaguely remember when I first set up my QB account that people could pay me through QB and it would take 1-2 days to process. I have since been using a different payment system (that I pay a cheaper fee for) so, I'm not sure why PayPal was turned on and this process was activated. This is poor customer service and it seems like support doesn't even know how to troubleshoot their own system. Very frustrating for sure. I feel your pain!

By turning off Paypal it just means that your new invoices that you send will not have paypal as a choice but the invoices you already sent did offer it so the people that received those invoices can still pay that way.  If you have a Merchant account with quickbooks then those people will be able to pay the invoices you sent.  So,  if you sent 100 invoices after Dec 13th then those people have the option to pay by paypal and it will cost you 3.5% of those payments.  This is a huge problem and is going to cost people a lot of money.  It already cost me a lot of money.  Its wrong that Quickbooks just automatically turned on Paypal and Venmo.

This same thing just happened to us and was costly on a $16k invoice (@3.5%)! I share the frustrations and deep disappointment with Intuit Management for what feels like manipulation by automating a service we never wanted to offer.  The right way would have simply been to make us aware of this feature and only allow activation when the client opts in. 

Why did they set this up?  I believe it's simply because it's quite profitable and easy to slide in without notice. Very frustrated and disappointed. I would have expected a higher level of integrity from this brand.

This same thing just happened to us and was costly on a $16k invoice (@3.5%)! I share the frustrations and deep disappointment with Intuit Management for what feels like manipulation by automating a service we never wanted to offer.  The right way would have simply been to make us aware of this feature and only allow activation when the client opts in. 

Why did they set this up?  I believe it's simply because it's quite profitable and easy to slide in without notice. Very frustrated and disappointed. I would have expected a higher level of integrity from this brand.

I have also recently experienced a frustrating situation with QuickBooks (QB) that has left me bewildered and dissatisfied. Approximately six months ago, I utilized QB's bookkeeping service, and my wife, who was assisting me, discovered that QB had automatically activated a QB checking account without our knowledge. Despite our request to close the account, the bookkeeper assured us it was taken care of.

Fast forward to last week when, for the first time, a customer paid an invoice through QB online using PayPal—a feature I had no idea was activated. I received an email from QB stating that my QB checking account was now active. To my dismay, I discovered a 3.5% processing fee had been applied to a $17k+ invoice, totaling over $500. This was shocking, as I have never encountered processing fees for receiving payments via ACH or mailed checks, both of which I have explicitly instructed customers to use.

Alarmed by this unexpected charge, I promptly reached out to the customer and QB customer service. Although the representative initially seemed helpful, the process of reversing the transaction and closing the QB checking account became an ordeal. Despite my efforts, the account balance remained, and I incurred an additional $25 insufficient funds processing fee.

After spending 90 minutes on the phone, I was informed that the processing fee could not be reversed due to a decision made by QB's back-end department. Even though the reversal supposedly occurred, I was now told I owed QB the original processing fee plus the new overdraft charge. When I requested to speak with higher management to rectify the situation, I was met with resistance and told there was no one above the representative I spoke to.

This situation is not only frustrating but also illogical. QB's error led to these charges, and the refusal to rectify them goes against common practices in the modern banking system. I am not attempting to defraud QB but seeking correction for their mistake on principle. I have no interest in a QB checking account or PayPal as a payment option, as evidenced by my transaction history.

The same thing is happening to me.

I've been with Quickbooks for years and only had ACH payments enabled, then recently see payments are able to be made via PayPal and I am being charged double the fees. I went in and saw PayPal is now enabled for ALL of my invoices. I turned it off but -- how did this happen?

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online company.
2. Select Help (?).
3. Select either tab to get started:

• Assistant: Get quick, personalized answers. Select a suggested option, or type a question or topic you need help with. If you decide you need further help, you can still Talk to a human.

• Search: Search the QuickBooks Online knowledge base directly, or select Contact Us and choose a way to connect with us:

• Start a chat with a support expert.

• Get a callback from the next available expert.

Im in the same boat.  Cost me almost $700.00 for one transaction when I have ALWAYS had PayPal turned OFF.  they told me I must have turned it on. Not the case, and not happy. Now I turn it off, and it just shows up again. Grrrr

I am having this same issue with one of my clients!  Have always had credit card option turned off, all the sudden client gets an email with credit card pay as an option & in spite of escalating to QBO supervisor, they are denying the credit, as well as denying an offset on his monthly subscription fees.

This has to be illegal and if I don't get resolution (on the phone again), I will be seeking legal input or possibly seeing if I can get attention of local news station - I am convinced this is a programming issue on QBO side, likely in line with their new invoice changes.

So frustrating!!

Your proactive approach in addressing the invoicing issue that allowed clients to pay via Credit Card (CC) is commendable, Laurie.

For now, I agree with contacting our Support Team to request an investigation of the invoicing issue you encountered. They can also assist with the request of crediting the affected account or offsetting monthly subscription fees as compensation. To help with this, I also recommend providing relevant documentation like copies of invoices sent to clients and notes of what was discussed in your previous interaction with our Support Team to help with the request. Here's how to contact them again:

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online company.
2. Select Help (?).
3. Select either tab to get started:
   • Assistant. Then, type in Talk to a human.
   • Search and click on Contact Us and choose phone to request a callback.

For future reference, let me add this article about the features available in the new invoice and estimate experience in QBO: See what’s new with estimates and invoices in QuickBooks Online.

We're available in the Community to help with further questions about turning off the CC pay option when invoicing in QBO.

This happened to us as well. We never authorized that payment method and it cost us hundreds in fees.

This was a significant (and reversible) mistake by Quickbooks that cause financial loss for their clients. But they just leave it on? We talked with an agent who said his entire day every day is taking calls for this exact issue. That's how bad it is...

Quickbooks is opening itself to a class action with this one. So dumb.

And they won't help...

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, @atx7490103. I'm here to guide you to our support team to address your payment concerns.

Reviewing the charges on your account needs secure access, which our support team is fully equipped to handle. They can conduct a thorough examination of the fees you've incurred to provide you with accurate and detailed information.

To reach a live representative, here's how:

1. Log in to your QuickBooks Online Company.
2. Click on the Help button at the top of the page.
3. Choose the Search tab, then click Contact us.
4. Type in your concern, and click Continue.
5. Under Callback, click Have us call you button. This will route you to enter your details.
6. After that, select Get a call.
7. You will now be added to the queue and wait for us to call you.

On the other hand, you have the option to disable the PayPal payment option in the settings if you prefer not to offer this payment method to your customers.

1. Go to the Gear icon and select Account and settings.
2. Choose the Sales tab and click Invoice payments.
3. Untick the PayPal box.
4. Click Save and Done.

Additionally, you can refer to this article about personalizing your sales forms: Customize invoices, estimates, and sales receipts in QuickBooks Online.

Let us know if you have other concerns about your QuickBooks payments. We're here to help you in any way we can.

Thanks. We had already done that... and the support person said the only thing we could do was refund the clients and ask them to pay us again with new invoices with a different payment method. 

THIS IS A TERRRRIIIBBBLLLEEEE customer experience recommendation. We said no of course. Many times. And insisted that QB work on it. The agent said that he takes this exact call all day and that was the only option. He repeated that multiple times.

Then when we screenshotted the support thread here showing that an account credit was possible, the next agent was suddenly able to help. 

I hate that you have to practically yell at a random bureaucrat in the morass of support systems for large companies to get them to do the right thing. 

So if anyone is reading this -- no matter what the support agent tells you to the contrary... they do have the power to credit you fees that shouldn't have been charged. You just have to insist.